06/01/2015
Stenhouse Jr. Finishes 37th At The ‘Monster Mile’
DOVER, Del. (May 31, 2015) – After earning his best starting position of the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup season, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. started the 400-lap race in the ninth position but was forced to take his Ford Ecoboost Ford to the garage after something broke in the front end on lap 164. Thanks to the speedy work by the No. 17 team, Stenhouse Jr. was able to return to the track and pick up six positions salvaging a 37th– place finish in Sunday’s FedEx 400 at Dover International Speedway.
“It is a bummer,” Stenhouse said. “It has been a really solid weekend for us. Our Ford EcoBoost Fusion has been consistently in the top-15 and I think whatever we have going on kind of started in the first run. We were okay and holding our own and then I started getting really tight. We corded the right front, came down pit road and put a new tire on it and everything was good. We started having battery issues and I had to turn off all my fans so it was getting pretty warm in the car. We had a battery issue and then had something let go on the right front suspension. It is a real tough end for our decent weekend that we have had up until now.”
After earning his first top-10 starting position of the 2015 season, the two-time XFINITY champion started the 400-lap race at the ‘Monster Mile’ in the ninth position but gradually fell a few positions as his machine gradually tightened as the run progressed.
As Stenhouse was bringing his Ford to pit-road for the first scheduled pit-stop of the day, the 2013 Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year radioed in that he didn’t have any gauges. The crew tried to determine the electrical issue but after getting the machine restarted, Stenhouse was able to continue but was scored two laps down.
After restarting in the 41st position, the Olive Branch, Miss. native worked his way up to the 26th position before something broke in the front end sending the Ford Ecoboost Ford to the garage.
The crew worked feverishly to repair the machine and Stenhouse Jr. returned to the track 25 laps later but in the 43rd position. Through attrition of typical short track racing, the Roush Fenway Racing driver was able to gain six positions in the final 200 laps taking the checkered flag in 37th position.
Next up for Stenhouse and the No. 17 team is the Axalta “We Paint Winners” 400 at Pocono Raceway on Sunday, June 7. Race coverage begins at 1:00 p.m. on FOX Sports 1. Coverage can also be heard on MRN and SIRIUS radio channel 90.
